Forget the iWatch, get ready for Apple iWear

Expect an Apple wrist device in 2013, an iPhone companion with a curved display, gesture recognition and maybe even using solar power or energy harvesting.

As many as ten million people already have last-generation iPod Nanos retrofitted to wear on their wrists. The Pebble generated enough interest to send its founders scrambling to link up a supply chain. And there’s an emerging class of health devices emerging in one sector of the vast Internet of Things.

That said, it’s not as big a deal as the also-rumored iTV, also not expected to debut amid the noise of CES in Las Vegas this month.

Rumors say Intel is working with Apple on the iWatch. That seems like a stretch to me given Intel’s struggles to get into smartphones which are an order of magnitude larger in size and power consumption.

I can imagine an x86 smart watch. It’s slightly smaller than an ultrabook. It runs for a week on an optional belt-worn lead acid battery. It comes in a Windows version to tap the wealth of applications and out of work Windows programmers.

Memo to Tim Cook: ARM has whole families of processors that consume much less power than its Cortex series. Check them out sometime as you venture into the Internet of Things, or should I say, iThings.

Cool...pls send me one ;-)...energy harvesting would be really useful, solar of course...temp difference between body and ambient is not large enough though to produce anything useful...I think you get more energy from mechanical vibrations...Kris

So in other words, expect a wearable wrist device from Apple, much like the Up from Jawbone or the upcoming Flex from FitBit, except that Apple will redefine the category and theirs will be so much more than an activity & sleep tracker.
What, it won't be announced at CES? Of course not, since Apple doesn't go to CES. That was kind of an odd thing to be quoted on.
As for the advice about processor selection, I doubt you have to worry about Tim Cook's awareness of ARM vs. x86. Let's not forget that Tim's company already has plenty of experience with ARM cores, and it's own chip development team that regularly tapes them out with great success. Oh yeah, and a wearable device needs to consume no more than single-digit milliamps on average -- and that is the real challenge, for both the hardware engineers and the software engineers.

Single-digit milliamps is already very high drain for lithium primaries (a CR2450 is of order 550mAh, and the internal resistance soars as the thing drains). But if the user can be persuaded to dock the thing when not worn into a wired or wireless charging fixture, and we use rechargeables, there's hope.
Brad

It would be large on the wrist unless it didn't do much. I think I would rather have it in my pocket. Oh, I guess I already do... If anyone can make a couple of million people buy one, it would be Apple.

I think the iPod nano wrist bands illustrate that people are trying to multi-task their devices. We use our SmartPhones for telephoning, music, email, AND checking the time. Current technology batteries already power an ordinary watch as long as it is likely to work. Use the engineering resources developing energy harvesting technologies to solve a real problem: eliminate the need to recharge a laptop computer.

I would really love a good wrist device, I would like a single device that shows time, monitor physical movement, (i.e Calories, distance etc.) and also be used as simple phone for emergemcy, and of course play music, I hate to carry multiple devices when jogging or going in woods

Wearable computers are the predictable next step, in this "pervasive computing" trend that's been going on for many decades now. As usual, Star Trek already showed this, starting with Next Generation.
Beyond this step is the implanted ones.
Honestly, I'm not a die-hard trekie. Just pointing out that TV script writers are also creative people, and there's no reason to doubt that engineering will sooner or later catch up with their dreaming.

Motorola came out with their Activ "watch" line that is essentially an android with gps, heartbeat, cadence etc. sensors. But as far I know, it didn't really take off. I'm guessing that an Apple version would be an instant success.

My child have demonstrated what he imagined with a mockup and has a video, and would like apple or anyone to implement and market his idea and give him one. I better would like to have a patent for what he envisioned since it is really cool. What might be the vest venue to protect his idea and at the same time trigger its implementation?